Govt 'bedazzled by the dollar' in race for students

From The Canberra Times;

The Federal Government must look past export dollars and clean up the education of foreign students before Australia's reputation is irreparably damaged, an academic says.

One of Australia's leading social scientists, Bob Birrell from Monash University, told ABC's Four Corners program last night the Government had been ''bedazzled by the dollar'' and must ensure overseas students were not exploited.

Dr Birrell's comments come as federal police and immigration officials raided the offices of a Sydney migration agent allegedly involved in a scam to exploit foreign students.

Police are also investigating allegations of death threats and an assault in Sydney at the weekend on an undercover reporter employed by Four Corners to assist with the item about the exploitation of students.

Dr Birrell said the Federal Government had not properly monitored dealings with overseas students.

''As the figures mounted in billions every year, and they could proudly say that this is a $15 billion [a year] industry more than wheat, wool and meat put together there's perhaps an understandable reluctance to look critically at the foundation of the industry.''

Four Corners said some students had been ripped off to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars by colleges, or by migration or education agents.

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An undercover reporter with Four Corners named Sydney immigration agent Sam Tejani as assisting students to cheat on the English language tests. The program alleged Mr Tejani charged up to $5000 to fix the results of tests. Mr Tejani declined to appear on the program, but stated in a written response that the allegations were false.

Australian Immigration Law Services spokesman Karl Konrad said there was evidence of a black market in certificates confirming foreign students had 900 hours of work experience in their trade to allow them to stay in Australia.

''There's no doubt that the fake experience certificates or the letters that they need to pass the skill assessment process is very widespread and we brought this to the attention of the immigration department years ago, but it wasn't really acted on,'' he said.

Migration Institute of Australia chief executive Maurene Horder said the migration agents' representative body was concerned about the allegations. ''Unfortunately, hearing reports about international students and visa applicants falling prey to unscrupulous operators is not a new issue,'' she said.

In May last year, the association reported 60 unscrupulous operators in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to the Department of Immigration, she said. She called on the department to crack down on illegal or unethical behaviour among registered migration agents.

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